8 / 40
Andreas and Chris Ehrlich belong to the
international elite of illusionists.
They
have been named “Magicians of the Year”
twice and delight young and old alike with
their unique brand of magic during their
tour. Shortly before the show in Stuttgart,
the Ehrlich Brothers talked about how
it all started, how they bring their ideas
to life and the technical wizardry behind
their spectacular shows.
Interview
trends in automation:
We’re sitting here on the set of your
show in Stuttgart. The sound check and lighting test are underway.
Three 40-tonne Megaliners are parked in the courtyard. And
tomorrow it’s on to the next city. You’ve enjoyed a rapid rise to
fame in recent years. Did you ever dream that you would one day
fill venues of this size?
Chris Ehrlich:
We started out with just a small magic set when
we were children. Never in our wildest imagination – though with
our illusions you need a pretty vivid imagination – would we have
believed that this would one day lead to such huge success. One
of the cornerstones of our success is our love of detail and the
determination to always do better. After every show we analyse
exactly how it went, eliminate potential for error and improve
our illusions wherever possible. Even though something may
look perfect, for us it is never one hundred per cent perfect. We
always want to try and make our shows just that little bit better.
Andreas Ehrlich:
For us it’s just the same as working in industry.
We also operate in a continuous improvement process, whether
it’s for small tricks or big illusions.
Your show begins in just a few hours. You seem very relaxed –
as does the entire crew. Yet everything here seems to involve a
great deal of technical effort. Are you familiar with all of the
technical details or are you ‘merely’ the artists who do all of the
creative work and leave the implementation side to your
co-workers?
Chris Ehrlich:
We are the architects of our productions and work
both in and on them – from the initial idea to the final technical
implementation. It’s always been that way. At home we used
to
The art
of illusion